U-T San Diego reports that Alf joined up with a band of volunteers in 1970 to start the now-annual convention celebrating comic books, which has grown to become a major media and entertainment-industry summer event.

Friend and fellow Comic-Con co-founder Mike Towry says Alf fronted a few thousand dollars to pay for the convention for the first three years and gave other co-founders rides in his car.

In 1970, the first Comic-Con was relatively modest compared to the convention that now draws more than 125,000 people, many of them in costume, to San Diego every summer for a 3-day extravaganza. Many of the studios use the convention to give fans a first look at their science fiction or comics-based offerings and serve up stars to get headlines.

Smaller Comic-con events are now held every year in cities across the nation.